PS3 Fanboy

Does the above image look like it belongs somewhere else? Well, it sort of does to us; the background environment reminds us more of another Konami hit series, Silent Hill, than it does Metal Gear Solid. That is, of course, once you take out all the Russian soldiers.

Luckily, it's only this screenshot out of a batch that made us think so; the rest of the screenshots look mighty fine. Check out the rest of the new images at The Magic Box.

Sega said awhile back that Condemned 2: Bloodshot would feature online multiplayer, but we never really knew exactly what that would entail, until now. Sega revealed today that Condemned, which ships on March 11, will feature four online multiplayer modes that supports up to eight players simultaneously.

Those modes are:

• Crime Scene is a round-based competition to find and protect valuable evidence within the Condemned universe. One team will use its forensic tools to track and scan the evidence while the opposing team will do everything in its power to keep the evidence hidden and protected.
• Bum Rush is a team-based race against time. With three minutes before one team can safely be evacuated, players must hold off an onslaught of attacks by the other team until the timer runs out to stand a chance of survival.
• Deathmatch is the classic free-for-all mode. Players can use every weapon they can find to dispatch enemies as quickly as possible in this melee battle royale. The player with the highest score at the end of the time limit wins.
• Team Deathmatch is the team-based version of the classic free-for-all mode. Working together, players pick up weapons from the environment and fight off as many enemies as possible before the clock runs down. The team with the highest score after the time limit wins.

It appears Sega's giving players the standard multiplayer modes that we've all come to love, but Crime Scene sounds pretty interesting as it is the only one to be centered around the game's excellent forensic tool system. The more we hear from this game, the more excited we get. We can't wait until March!

We don't usually write about petitions for two reasons. One, they're usually requesting one game or another to be made available on a platform of their choice and, two, because they rarely work. This petition regarding Singstar, however, does highlight some problems regarding the game that we have ourselves noticed since its release.

Singstar has been given pretty good reviews so far (we'll have some in depth thoughts up for you within the next few days), because it has pushed what it did on the PS2 towards new, online, horizons. Unfortunately, the reality of these features, and what Sony promises, don't match up. The Singstar servers for the SingStore and My Singstar Online have been flaky, at best, with frequent time-outs and periods of downtime. Not only that, but Sony promised 350 songs on the SingStore at launch, whereas there are currently less than 100 (though closer to 50).

This wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't text within the game itself which clearly states that there are "hundreds of songs available to download", or if there was some sort of community news update which would let people know what's going on. As it is, people are left in the dark and are getting frustrated.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi is known for creating some off-the-wall games. I mean, this is the same guy who helmed Space Channel 5, Rez and Lumines, but Angel Love Online could be the strangest one yet.

While the free-to-play MMO features the standard RPG knights, mages and robots, you'll also apparently be able to command humanoid pigs, cats, dogs, zombies with candles on their heads, Native Americans and several creatures the English language has no names for.

Although, it's difficult to understand what's going on in the video since it's all in Japanese and the screen is obscured by disturbingly cute characters, Mizuguchi and his team definitely know what they're doing ... at least we think they do.

The upcoming online update to TEKKEN 5: Dark Resurrection will cost $9.99. The update, which will be available later this year, will include Opti Match, Quick Match, Custom Match and Friend Match, "making it easy to find opponents to fight with anywhere, anytime." While waiting for their turn to battle, players will also be able to study their opponents by watching battles in the lobby. Online will also include two new single player modes, including Practice mode and Survival mode.

A new Online News Ticker will post the weekly, monthly and overall rank leaders at any given point. According to the press release, "Players will fight their way to the deadly Dark Lord to prove that they are worthy of battling it out in the online TEKKEN ranking." Whatever that means.

"It is beyond words how excited we are to finally be bringing our famous fighting franchise, TEKKEN, online for the first time," Makoto Iwai, Senior Vice President and COO of NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. said. "Not only is TEKKEN 5: Dark Resurrection Online a great value, but it now features the largest evolution in the franchise to date."

A wise man once said, "The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity." Having said that, a recent EGM Live podcast revealed what Sony could be calling their own version of game Achievements. Enter... the Entitlements!

At a point during the first third of the podcast, Dan Hsu spoke about how these Entitlements could be a key player in the next-gen cross-platform scene. Due to the infamously rising development costs, bringing the same game from one console to another is shaping up to be a very cost-effective alternative to exclusive titles (sad as it may be). So if you earn some Achievements on a certain ported game, chances are you will be able nab the same Entitlements on Sony's service just as easily.

The editors also made a very sharp point: wouldn't it be great to see something tangible awarded to those gamers with high Entitlements? Perhaps a free retro game to download, or an honorary icon/avatar for your profile?

It's been no surprise that whenever Sony is faced with the accusation of copying Microsoft's online strategy, they talk about progressing the industry as a whole and broadening the scope of the business. Kaz Hirai has furthered that mentality by going on the record saying "thanks" to the software giant.

"Thank you, Microsoft, for helping us in taking consumers online," he said to Mercury news. "The most important thing for us is to make sure online is an integral part of the experience. It's not a 'nice to have' feature. It enables new businesses."

Even though the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will soon be going head-to-head, it's obvious that Sony and Mr. Hirai believe that this is a collective endeavor all the same. Think of it as competitive synergy. Of course if that's not the case then at least he's putting on a good poker face.

The turf war continues with Chris Lewis of Microsoft kicking up some dirt about Sony's online strategy for the PlayStation 3. In an interview with Eurogamer, Mr. Lewis accused Sony of stealing their idea and implementing it as their own.

"Plagiarism is a good thing - that in itself isn't such a problem, it's what the market wants. But we've known that's what the market wanted all along," he said. Adding that he thinks it's flattering, Chris stated that he's glad to see Sony bridging the gap and covering ground to catch up, but that he's a little hazy on the whole thing.

"How the pricing is going to work still to me seems very unclear." Well, if Sony sticks to their guns, then the answer is simple: it'll be free!

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

PS3Land is stating that they have an actual PR source claiming that the PS3's online multiplayer will be available for free right out of the box. Now, as much as this blogger would love to believe this statement, no factual evidence is presented by the website other than an unnamed Sony Computer Entertainment America PR Manager informing them to "Please note that online gaming will be free right out of the box."

Considering Sony's past of leaving online play and upkeep to the third-party developers/publishers and refusing to adopt a unified online structure like MIcrosoft's Xbox consoles have, should we expect Sony to shift more towards the online model of Microsoft or assume this is just another drop in the well that is internet speculation?

An astute observation by x360Central (and a few readers as well) points out the absence of online gameplay and matchmaking from Sony's "Basic Community Services." These were outlined at E3 last week, but we never explicitly heard about the former features.

This brings up the flamebait regarding the Sony online platform and similarities to Xbox Live. Should they choose to leave out free multiplayer after all, then it would reduce the PlayStation Network Platform to a musty spin-off of Xbox Live Silver.

Sony has stated that they plan on giving gamers free online gameplay though, so until they come out saying that they will definitely charge for it, let's keep that in mind. This will be an interesting issue to watch develop as we get closer to the launch date.

The industry's biggest event is now over, and while posting on the Joystiq mothership maybe have taken up all of our time, we can't forget about our Fanboys. We've got some post-E3 reflections on the way, so get ready. Here's an aggregate of the show coverage:

Engadget & Joystiq's live coverage of Sony's PlayStation 3 E3 event
PS3 impressions: Resistance Fall of Man
PS3 impressions: Sonic the Hedgehog
PS3 Impressions: Heavenly Sword
PS3 impressions: Virtua Tennis
Joystiq hands-on: new PS3 controller
Joystiq Video: Resistance Fall of Man
E3 Vox Populi: What are your thoughts on the PS3 prices?
E3 Vox Populi: Will lack of rumble hurt the PS3?
E3 Vox Populi: Who had the best press conference?
E3 booth tours: Sony
A look at EA's new realism tools
The PS3 controller that might have been
Sony's PS3 is still $600
Microsoft befriends Nintendo in fight vs Sony
First look: The Club (Xbox 360 & PS3)
The jacket that says "I can afford a PS3"
Sony's Play Beyond campaign played up at E3
Extended 15-minute MGS4 trailer on the hour
PS3 worth its weight in Uranium
Dual Shake functionality tacked on at last minute
Anatomy of shame: Dual Shake vs. Wiimote
Sony steals motion idea, but not from Nintendo
New PS3 controller loses DualShock vibration
PS3 investing in tangible user interfaces
PS3: A tale of 2 SKUs
Clash of the Consoles: a sneak peek!
PlayStation 3 in its final form
The real PlayStation 3 controller revealed
Final Fantasy XIII announced for PS3

As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)

So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.

HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.

[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]

There was a time when Virtua Fighter 5 was considered a strong candidate for an arcade port to the Xbox 360, but that multiplatform hope's been dashed with the official announcement that VF5 will appear only on PS3 in the spring of 2007. Sega's technical fighter is a Sony exclusive once more.

While home-console online play remains doubtful at this point, next-gen PlayStation owners can now securely look forward to facing off as El Blaze and Eileen (the new luchador and monkey kung-fu artist, respectively) along with the other 15 fighters, decked out in all sorts of items purchased in the in-game store with prize money earned through in-game matches.

VF5 will support up to 720p HD resolution and will be featured in game footage in the SEGA booth at E3 (South Hall, Booth #946) later this week.

[Thanks, Matt; also via Joystiq]